Water bears –or tardigrades– are nearly indestructible.
Think of any environment, and chances are, you could very likely find one sipping on wine and enjoying life –well maybe not sipping on wine but you get me-.
Chances are there’s probably one just chilling and contemplating how good life is within 5 meters of you right now.
In water? Yeah, they enjoy the waves.
Antarctica? Of course, they even got to meet polar bears.
Boiling water? There’s no better place for them than a hot bubbly jacuzzi!
What about in high radiation? Maybe Fukushima? For sure! Just like tourists will bathe themselves in oil for the sunny weather, they won’t miss out on that good tan those gamma rays will give them!
They can even go into a self-preservation mode –similar to hibernation– if they are in extremely dry environments without water. I wish I could go into this mode on Monday mornings…
But surely you can’t find them in space… well, about that, it turns out you can.
I think you get the point, they can handle being nearly everywhere. After reading this post they will probably even join you in your nightmares!
How big are these creatures?
Well turns out they are itsy bitsy teenie weenie –about 0.5 millimeters-, but don’t let that misguide you.
If water bears had a gym membership, they’d lift mountains while we’d still be debating on which protein shake flavor to try.
But why are they so fascinating?
Well, other than the cuteness overload –as illustrated by the following picture-, there are many reasons.
The main thing about tardigrades is that they don’t need air, water, or even a decent Wi-Fi signal, they’ll survive wherever you dump them. If only your phone battery could do the same.
But why are they so resilient? Well, in short, it comes down to a special cocktail of proteins that run in their systems.
The star ingredient in this mojito is a protein called Dsup –damage suppressor-.
These proteins bind directly to nucleosomes and cover the chromatin, protecting DNA from damage.
Dsups must really love DNA because they hug it real tight, more tight than you could ever hug your friend after saving you from the spider in your room.
So yeah, this little blob of cuteness is full of these Dsup proteins –little loving minions that hug DNA tight– that protect DNA from being damaged, specifically from radiation.
It’s like the DNA is now done with any toxic external radiation since the only radiation it now wants is the healthy love Dsups irradiate.
Dsup also helps boost certain mechanisms protecting DNA and cells from further damage by boosting the expression of certain genes and defense mechanisms.
I wish I had a love story half as intense as the one between this protein and DNA.
What if your cells could be as tough as a tardigrade?
Thanks to Dsup, that’s not just sci-fi anymore, and this could be huge in medicine.
Us humans, well… monkey see monkey do.
Scientists took human cells in a lab and gave them some love. They gave them their dose of Dsup proteins and the results were promising.
They found that cells that received Dsup showed less DNA damage after exposure to radiation compared to cells that did not receive this protein.
DNA usually hates radiation. But with Dsup around, it’s more like, ‘Oh, radiation? That’s cute.’ It shrugs off damage like a superhero.
They also found that these proteins could protect us from many other threats like reactive oxygen species.
Reactive oxygen species are the bad guys here. But Dsup? It’s the bouncer at the DNA club, kicking them out before they cause trouble.
What is my take?
Well, monkey thinks this could be good.
Monkey doesn’t fully understand all mechanisms, but monkey very excited to see potential uses for this protein.
Monkey excited when he read about not getting so radiated, specially because monkey like astronauts.
Also monkey think this could be good for places with high radiation.
Monkey will now be invincible.
Who knew one of the universe’s toughest survivors would be squishy water bears?
If tardigrades can handle space, radiation, and just about everything else, maybe it’s time we take some notes and start borrowing tricks!